"It was real hard," deadpans Parker. "I had to plug it in, and
it said, would you like to look at archived files?"

And when he found checks– one for $500,000– the implications of
what he was sitting on alarmed him.

"Holy smokes," says Parker, who contacted the University and the
North Carolina Department of Justice and didn't feel like his
information was taken very seriously until January 6, when he got a
phone call from his mother, who was contacted by investigators.

"I was ballistic," says Parker. "I'm 34 years old, and they call
my mother? That was completely insensitive."

"This was taken very seriously," says NC State spokesman Brad
Bohlander. "We received an email January...

Belt it out
If you think karaoke means following a bouncing ball over
computer-screen lyrics as canned musical accompaniment blares,
think again. Thanks to the rocking (and very patient) back-up band
Retrospective Collective, every Thursday, aspiring professional
singers– and those who just enjoy belting it out in the car or the
shower– bring their rock-star fantasies to life.January 19, Fellini's,
10pm, free

Belmont
talent
You can't throw a stone in Belmont without hitting an artist (and
we certainly don't recommend you try...) but if you want a sense of
just how talent-dense the neighborhood really is, check out this
group show at the gallery located at 100 Second St. NW off the
Downtown Mall (aka the Hook building), featuring an...

Justine dances with her father, Stephen Swartz, at her May 28, 2006 wedding to Eric Abshire. Less than six months later, she was dead.

Swartz family

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After declaring his love for his late wife and his innocence in
her death, a defiant Eric Abshire, convicted in October of killing
Justine Swartz Abshire, spoke aloud in court. It was the first time
the 37-year-old made a statement since
entering his not guilty plea last March.

"Justice for Justine will never happen," said Abshire. Minutes
later, Orange County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Bouton confirmed
the jury-recommended life sentence for the first-degree murder.

"You demanded trial by jury," said Bouton. "We provided you with
the jury."

Although their service ended with the October 25 conviction, at
least two jurors attended the January 12 sentencing hearing.

"I was here to make sure the sentence we recommended was
upheld," explained juror Michelle Hooper, who says she's had no
second thoughts. "We all felt very strongly about it."

Before the sentencing began, Abshire's attorney, Charles "Buddy"
Weber, unsuccessfully moved to have the verdict tossed, claiming
that the medical evidence hadn't explained how Justine
died on November 2-3, 2006, the night Abshire claimed to have
found her as the ostensible victim of a hit-and-run on Taylorsville
Road near Barboursville.

After more than a generation as the unofficial ambassador of
Nelson County, Russ Simpson suddenly finds himself unrecognizable.
The proprietor of a popular roadside stand along U.S. 29 has
recently shed over 40 pounds, part of his quest to race a
snowmobile across the frozen surface of the state once known as
"Seward's
Folly."

"My weight now is what it was in high school," says Simpson,
laughing as he recalls a longtime Apple Shed customer asking him
for the whereabouts of the owner.

Simpson is in the final days of training for the world's longest
snowmobile race, the Iron Dog, an event whose four-time champion is
Todd Palin. And Simpson says he got a phone call from Alaska's
so-called "First Dude" after visiting Wasilla in search of a race
partner.

"I thought it was my brother-in-law playing a joke," says
Simpson.

As it turned out, Palin was trying to be helpful, but rookie racer
Simpson won't get to compete with Palin this year. He'll have to
content himself with the so-called "trail class," the mere
1,100-mile version of the Iron Dog. But for Simpson, there's
something larger at stake than pride: his life.

Five years ago, he was diagnosed with Stage 2-B melanoma in his
shoulder– "basically from standing in the sun when we...

The man touted as instrumental in getting what was long called
the Meadow Creek Parkway built– or at least 1.4 miles of it– wasn't
there.
Former U.S. Senator John W. Warner, 84, checked into the
hospital the night before the January 6 ribbon-cutting/unveiling of
the portion of the road named in his honor.

Most of the speakers at the ceremony invoked Warner's name and
how much he'd done for Charlottesville and Albemarle: the
$27-million federal earmark for the parkway's unbuilt interchange
that revived the aging project in 2005, the levees that keep the
James River out of oft-flooded Scottsville, and National Ground
Intelligence Center and its $2 billion payroll, which, according to
former supervisor Forrest Marshall, former Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld wanted to move to Maryland.

What's next?

With the longest portion of the Meadow Creek Parkway open and
now doing business as the John W. Warner Parkway, when will
commuters be able to continue their 35mph, two-lane journey from
CATEC on Rio Road on into downtown Charlottesville?

If all goes well, the rest of the road will be finished late
2014, but in a project that's taken 44 years already, there's no
reason to assume all will go well.

For one thing, there's that pesky lawsuit the Coalition to
Preserve McIntire Park filed against the Fe...